Solitary
by great-growlithe-gamer
Summary: "But…you don't get it….I'm not a purrson. Evfurryone says so. I'm a wild animal and animals live in caves, right?" alternate society AU, rated T for swearing and injury.
1. Prolouge

A young, olive-green blooded troll, no older than one sweep, or, two years, was carried into a room that looked like a doctor's room. A few adult trolls were lined up on the other side of the room, some looking worried and others only looking impatient.

"Okay, this little lady is next. If she passes the test she goes home with the surrogate parent of corresponding blood color, if she fails….you all know what happens." The man who carried the child in said grimly, setting down the toddler on the floor. She giggled and pushed a mess of short, wild hair out of her face, looking up at the man who'd just set her down. "Up!" she demanded, tugging on his pant leg.

He pulled out a clipboard and noted this, before sitting down next to her. "Hello." He greeted calmly, in the same manner he'd greeted all the other children.

She laughed and charged into him, arms forward and fingers curled. "Rawr! I'm a lion!"

He frowned and wrote this down as well, before picking her up and putting her in his lap to see how she responded to her hair being messed with. It went well at first, with her asking why, before he hit what seemed to be a sweet spot on her head.

She leaned into his hand immediately, and did something that startled most of the others in the room.

She _purred._

The man who'd been writing on the clipboard stood up immediately. "She fails." He declared, his tone sharp and sure.

"Olive-blood surrogates can leave the room. She failed and will be turned loose immediately. She will not be named or coddled in any way. If someone is found trying to raise her they will be sentenced to jail time." he pulled a small pocket knife out and turned to the curious toddler who'd just been dumped on the floor?

"Again?" she asked curiously, though she shrank back as the man approached her with the knife. He took her right hand and cut a small but deep symbol into it.

It would scar over and identify her as someone who failed.

She hissed at him and covered her hand protectively, trying to make it hurt less. He just turned to one of the other men in the room and nodded, and the child was quickly pulled out of the room to be released into wilderness, where she would either be eaten or somehow survive. If she survived, she would still not be accepted, instead regarded as a dangerous animal and kept out of cities.

The surrogate parent for the olive blood sighed and shook her head at the display. One of the blue blood parents teased her on her way out. "You got a sweet spot like that too?"

She shook her head and left, muttering under her breath, "Dammit. Why couldn't she have gotten lucky like Meulin?"

**(Later in the day, the same room)**

"That seems to be all of them, but this one, though he passed, does not have a surrogate parent of corresponding blood color, being a mutant blood, so I suppose he will also be-"

"I can take care of him." A man spoke up. Unlike the others, his blood color was not apparent.

"But-"

"It won't be an issue." The man insisted, and the man simply shrugged and handed him the red-blooded troll.

"What'll his name be?" the man who had been evaluating the kids asked, tucking away his clipboard.

"Karkat." he replied with certainty.

**(Sweeps later, in the woods)**

She trudged through the forest, dragging her kill to her home, a cave she'd discovered. She'd lived there just about as long as she could remember, anything beyond waking up and going about her schedule was only a blurred memory. Once, she thought she might have remembered being in a building, though, and she recalled a man and white walls, though not much else. She chalked it up to a dream and nothing else, as far as she knew, Pounce had found her as a baby and she'd lived in the cave.

Hunt, eat, sleep, repeat. That was the schedule she'd been on her whole life. Sometimes during Pounce's naps, though….she would sneak over to the edge of the forest and watch the people there scurry about.

That's what she decided to do as soon as she stashed her meat in the cave, since Pounce was not around anyways.

She found a bush near a park and peeked out from between branches at both human and troll kids playing games, and stayed there until it got dark, watching the people come and go. She crept out from the bush late at night, aiming to collect a ball she'd seen one of the kids drop. An old man spoke up from the bench, scaring her.

"Why young lass, isn't it past your bedtime?" When he spoke, it sounded as if the words themselves were aged, mixing a slight wheeze in with his pleasantly spoken words.

She decided to play along. "Mhm! Came ofur to get a ball. After it, go home." She hoped he wouldn't catch her odd sentence structuring, she'd only been picking up bits and pieces from the people she saw and mispronounced certain words, for instance, many things using 'pr' in them.

"Come here, lass. I need to look at something." he said gently, and she cautiously walked over to him, clutching the ball she'd picked up like it was something precious to her, which it was, now.

He slowly reached to look at her right hand, and she noted that he looked startled upon seeing her odd scar there. It'd been there for ages, in all honesty she was fairly certain she'd been hatched with it.

"Oh…so you're not a young lass, I guess."

"I'm not?" she tilted her head, confused. He'd just called her that like what, three times? How did her hand make this untrue?

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're young, yes, but not a lass or a lad. You don't know how the system works, do you?"

"…umm…..no?" she responded. She didn't quite understand what he was saying.

"You weren't a sentient child, so that makes you an animal. You can't be a lad or a lass because you're an _it._ You aren't a person." The man explained, adjusting his reader glasses.

"..Not a purrson?" She repeated, brows furrowed as she attempted to digest this.

But she _looked_ like a person, didn't she? She could talk, couldn't she? She scrunched up her face as she tried to understand what he was telling her. 4 sweeps old (8 years, and 8 months old in human terms) was still relatively young, but most could comprehend it. However, she was not most.

He just sighed. "Listen, I'm going to explain this to you once, and then you scat and don't come back to this park, you understand? You're an animal, not a person. You live in the woods and _don't_ come into the city. Sooner or later, you'll die in those woods and be something's food. You will _not_ fight actual, real people or attack them, even if they attack you, they'd probably be doing you a favor by eliminating you so sit tight and wait to die like a good little beast. If someone tells you to do something, it's a command and you listen to your superiors, those being everybody. Understand?" he asked her patiently.

She nodded timidly.

"Repeat it back to me then."

"Uh….um…I live in the woods," she started, as she gradually wrapped her mind around the idea, "I hunt fur food, I'll die and be food, and, umm…..I don't go to the city, I don't fight, r-real people, and, and, umm…..I listen to masters, and, ummm….I'm not a purrson. Did I…do it right?" She asked eagerly, though she kept a distance from him nervously.

"Close enough." He shrugged, shifting his cane. "Now scat! And leave the ball!"

Her eyes widened and she held the ball to her chest tightly. "B-but…!"

"What did I just tell you about listening?" He whacked her with the cane, and she dropped the ball with a whimper. "Got it. Nefur again." She mumbled, rubbing her sore arm where the cane had struck.

He whacked her again. "Hey! I dropped it already!" She protested, edging in closer to him, now irritated. She tensed and debated pouncing.

"Don't attack, I told you about that too. Follow the rules." Whack!

She begrudgingly lowered her arms and backed off, getting outside his cane range.

"….why 'm I not a purrson?" She queried, rubbing all of the areas he'd struck, to lessen the pain.

"Because you failed the test. You're an animal, understand? You'll never be a person and someday you might realize I'm doing you a favor by telling you this now. Leave the park." The man continued to try and shoo her away, and she just hung her head and shuffled back to the cave, her ball forgotten and her mind cluttered with questions she wouldn't ask. She decided that she would take the man's word for it.

After all, if she was an animal, that meant he was smarter than her.

She grated her teeth and walked back into the cave, looking at all of the walls she'd illustrated on, making pictures in blood of what kind of things she might do with the other kids when she got to play with them. She trashed all of them and covered them up with blood from her most recent kill, which she then left to rot in front of them, no longer having an appetite for the day.

She curled up into her usual ball, on top of the furs of the dead animals she'd collected and skinned over her life. She pulled one over herself, covering her up completely and letting her sleep in absolute darkness.

She didn't come out for a day, then slowly came out and walked to the stream for water. She snarled at the prey across the stream from her, and it ran, so she went back to drinking the water she needed before leaving.

She kicked at rocks in the ground on her way back, often getting frustrated when they didn't dislodge the first time and picking them up to chuck them into the greenery. The forest. The place she was supposed to _live_ for the rest of her existence?

She growled and chucked another rock, not noticing that she'd gotten closer to the edge of the forest.

She heard a loud "OW!" and soon somebody was crashing through the brush looking for her. She turned tail and was going to run, but she instead decided she might try and talk to this person. Perhaps they would be nicer? Maybe….maybe they could tell her the old man was wrong! Yeah, that older guy had to have been crazy. That was the only explanation!

He _had_ to be lying, or crazy, or, something! She wasn't an animal and this person, whoever it was, would probably be able to tell her that. And then she could just go back to making drawings and hang out by the park to play with the other kids.

She eagerly approached the irritated man, smiling. "Hi!" She greeted cheerfully, and he glared at her.

"Why would I talk to _you?_" He sneered, after glancing at her hand just like the other guy had.

"…..beclaws I asked nicely?" She shrugged and tried to come up with an excuse. She might get the guy to talk to her, right? She had to. He…he had to tell her if she was right or not.

Nope. She didn't recall much after the guy hit her over the head with something, only blacking out. She woke up with injuries and a massive headache, and got a cold from sleeping outside her cave and without furs. Later that week she found a very oversized jacket that someone had lost at the park, and stole it after triple checking that nobody else was there. She was in and out of the city in less than a minute, but was shaken to the very core during that time. As the painful bruises served to remind her, she had no place in that city. And she decided it would be best to just follow the rules she'd been given.

If that meant sacrificing some self-worth, what was it to her? Maybe she couldn't be a person, but she would be the best hunter in the woods. She would become the apex predator. The top of the food chain. She wouldn't hurt any people but anything else was fair game. She would be the most dangerous animal there was.

That was her new aspiration, her new dream. When her previous hopes of being everyone's friend were crushed, she replaced them. And this time, she told herself confidently, tackling her prey to snap it's neck, nothing could prevent it. Animals hunted, after all.

**(One sweep later)**

Prey was plentiful. Nobody entered the forest. She was always alone and respected by the other creatures that lived nearby. Her water source was still clean and nothing had found her cave.

It was perfect.

She was bored.

Stretching and arching her back to do so, she yawned and stood up from the ever-increasing pile of dead animal hides. She trashed some of them, but only when she felt the need to do something different from her usual routine. She often used them with logs or branches to pretend they were alive again, but it usually only lasted so long. She was in a good mood most of the time, but it didn't stop her from getting bored.

She headed towards the edge of the woods again, deftly climbing a tree and peering down at all of the people walking around on the sidewalks and on the street.

She listened in on bits and pieces of their conversations, trying to pick out new words.

It was pathetic, she realized, that she bothered to learn language she wouldn't really have to use, but sometimes she liked to talk to herself and act like someone was visiting. She liked company, but usually it was only in the form of dead or dying animals, which wasn't much fun at all.

She had had a few more encounters with people, and all of them ended pretty poorly. There was one incident where she'd gotten a kid about her age to come into the woods and meet her, but, when she tried to play with the kid they just sat there and cried. Upon trying to play a different game, the kid ran, likely because she accidentally scraped him with the claws she'd never dulled.

The next time, someone chased her away from a baseball practice for retrieving and collecting the baseballs, running after her with a bat and forcing her to drop them after a few strikes form it, lest she suffer further injury.

The time after, she spat on someone's head form the tree in a rare act of defiance to her natural role, as the lesser being, that is, and they threw firecrackers at her (she probably should have timed it better and not around a holiday, in retrospect), causing a few burns and for her to fall out of the tree.

Another time, someone pulled a knife on her and she ran, but not before getting a few cuts. She wasn't quite sure what she'd done to provoke him, all she'd asked was what he was doing in the woods at night, and why he had that funny looking stuff in the bag.

Time after time any attempts to interact with anyone proved useless, but time after time she tried to.

It was just too tempting to try and make a friend.

She'd stolen food from a few people camping, and she was fairly sure that they'd made a ghost story about her. Not the type of thing she wanted to be known for. It didn't even give her a name.

A name.

She wanted a name, but she didn't know how to get one. Everyone else just…had one.

They knew it to be an irrefutable fact, they all knew their names with absolute certainty. Why not hers?

What was her name? Did she have one? She would stay up wondering about that type of stuff, for no reason at all really other than to think about something.

She accepted her place now, after the sweep ago with the old man and the beating she received from the other guy.

In a way she was mad at herself for not being more upset about it. But it was just there, a true fact, like a name. She couldn't argue with it and she wasn't upset about it. She understood.

She didn't do it all right. She wasn't a person in the first place, so being considered an animal didn't take any rights away or anything like that.

It was a fact and she was fine with it. She was happy with how things were going.

As an animal, she was doing everything correctly. She was not a person because she made a better animal and if she was honest she probably liked it more too. Maybe she wouldn't be happy being a person. This was just how it was supposed to be.

Whatever the case was, she was fine. The strongest huntress in the woods, just like she told herself she would be. Pounce would've been proud.

"Can I, mom?" She stopped walking as she picked up on someone's conversation. Someone was camping over here, with a kid, it sounded like.

Did she dare listen in on them?

Hell yes.

She dashed over in the direction of the voices, though she was careful not make many sounds. She listened to their conversation from a hidden position in the trees. It was getting dark besides that.

"…It's a bit late, Kyle. You know what they say about these woods…" a female voice worried, and she pieced together that said female was the mother of 'Kyle' and that they were humans and not trolls, who, although they had the same rights, were much more independent of parental figures, meaning there was no chance these were trolls.

"_Moooom…"_ the boy whined, drawing the word out, "I know! They even have this really cool ghost story about it!"

"Kyle, I'm not sure it's a ghost story. One of my friends camped over here once and she said that her food had been raided, and it was in one of those bear-proof things." The mother continued to worry, "It's too late at night for you to go out. Besides, do you even know the ghost story?"

"Of course I do mom! It's like the best one!"

"Really? Why don't you tell it to me instead of going out?"

"Fine…"

Now she was interested, leaning in closer from her hiding spot. Was this about _her?_ She suspected there was one of those ghost stories, but now she might have the chance to actually hear the whole thing. She wondered what it said, if it was right or not, if it gave her a name or something to be referred to as.

She listened attentively, and crept around from place to place to see if she might be able to get a visual on the person telling a story.

The boy started speaking again. "Here's the story…..once, many years ago, there was a girl. She looked normal from a distance but anyone who interacted with her could tell she wasn't. So one day, a man took initiative and dumped her in the woods as a child. It's said that a lion killed the man and raised the girl, taking the meat home and teaching her to hate people. She learned this growing up and snuck out to the city to pick her targets. Remember that kid who came in here and got mauled by something? That was her doing. Predators aren't around anymore in these woods because she killed them all, and it's said that campers unlucky enough to spot her are doomed to die of an accident later because of the curse. My friend's dad said he saw her in the woods during a camping trip, and my friend came to school three days later with news that his dad died in a car accident. Another lady saw her, and thirty three days later, she died from drinking poisoned tea. Anyways, she –it, whatever it's called at this point - hides in the woods steals food and looks for kids who are lost to slice them into little bits…"

She wanted to stop listening to this story _right now._ Why would people say all of those things, she didn't do that! She didn't…she'd never killed any people! No, of course not. Not many people had ever even seen her, she realized, so the curse thing was fake too.

The boy continued the story and she forced herself to listen. "….and so the people who say they've seen her, before they die, they try to explain what she looks like but everybody says it differently. Some people say she had glowing red eyes…" No she didn't! "…others say she had yellow ones, like trolls, and as for physical, well, she was hard to see but they say she had a cape like the one death wears, or a coat that trails along behind her. Sharp claws, pointy teeth great for eating people just like the wolf in little red riding hood…she can't talk and she growls at her victims before they die…"

She was so _done_ with listening to this. She didn't care if she was breaking the rules, she had to stop this kid, shut him up somehow_._ She didn't want to hear it, she didn't want to know that people thought of her like _that._

She leapt out from her hiding place with a roar, pouncing on the kid. "Liar!" She shouted into his face, staring him down angrily. She knew her claws were probably digging into his arms but she couldn't bring herself to care.

The mother was screaming and the boy was just frozen with fear. She growled at him, eyes narrowed. "You didn't know any of that was true…..I didn't do any of that…..purrobably heard it from anofur liar…." She dug her claws into his arms further, oblivious to the panicking mother behind her.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

Why did she bother with this? Lots of other people knew the story by now. It was too late…

She slowly lifted herself off the kid, and pulled him up to his feet as well.

The mother grabbed a kitchen knife from the tent and ran back out with it.

She sighed and walked forward to the mother, who backed up and dropped the knife.

"I'm sorry fur ruining your camping..." She apologized dispassionately, eyes dull and bored looking.

The mother grabbed her child and backed away from her. She didn't seem to notice or care, instead speaking to the kid. "I'm sorry about the claws too. I'm also purrfectly fine with you telling your story. Have fun with it, I mean, I can't stop you, _nooo_, I'm just a stupid animal. How could _I_ stop you? I can't. Maybe you lied about evfurrything in it, but, how would _I_ know? It's not like the story is mine to tell, since apparently, _I can't talk._ What am I even doing right now, why am I talking?" she ceased speaking to the boy and made a series of growls and snarls she'd learned from pounce, producing deep, guttural sounds.

The family fled quickly, leaving behind their stuff, and when they were finally gone she trudged back to her cave, still pondering over the ghost story. She knew that what she did wasn't making her any friends, but nothing would, so what the hell, right?

"…I didn't do any of that. They weren't being furry fair. But, I have broken the rules. Maybe I'll just stop and it'll all be better. I'm not a purrson and I won't bother talking to them or being near them. They're all jerks, anyways. Heh, who needs them? I can have fun by myself." She declared, brushing off the incident. Maybe it was more like brushing it under a rug and trying to forget about it, but it worked, at least.

With a brightened mood, she hummed to herself and painted some pictures in the cave.

Solitude could be nice too, she decided, as she finished painting her picture of pounce and herself. She would never stop trying to learn all she could about people, of course. She would still listen to them talking and hide at the edge of the forest, but she decided she wouldn't try to interact with them anymore. It wasn't worth it for any of the people involved, including herself.

No matter how nice it would be if things were different, she figured she would learn to be satisfied with what she was stuck with.

**AN: I have another chapter or two already written out, as this is a prologue. The title might be subject to change because, well, titles are hard. Anyway, if you have an opinion, let me know if it's really bad, or okay, or whatever you think really. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1

Karkat walked through the streets, shoving past strangers and trying to get through any crowded areas as quickly as possible in the dim lighting provided by the street lamps. He turned a corner where he noticed not many people were going in an attempt to continue his evening walk with more solitude and less noise. There were still people on the street, but way less of them, only three or four besides him on both sides. He wouldn't need to push past any of them.

Now he only had to take some sort of shortcut to his house, it was getting dark and personally he did not want to be in the streets at night in this neighborhood, right next to the forest.

He stopped walking entirely and squinted when he thought he saw something on the ground up ahead, about 15 meters away from him. It was hard to tell, but the outline looked like….a person?

"Holy shit!" Karkat exclaimed, rushing up to the body. It was on the ground and he honestly considered the possibility of it being a dead body. However, they seemed to be alive. Another stranger walked past, and Karkat shouted to him. "Isn't anyone else going to fucking help this person?"

"No." upon hearing this Karkat gaped at the man. "Why the fuck would you not help this person?!"

The stranger actually _laughed_. "Simple. It's not a person."

"The fuck is _wrong_ with you?! This is pretty obviously a person, you insufferable maggot shit." Karkat motioned yet again to the body.

"No, you don't understand. It's a troll. I'd gotten worried too, but then I checked, and it's just a troll." The stranger informed him.

Karkat flipped him off and pointed to his horns.

"Not to offend _you,_ sorry, but this is a troll that failed the testing. Wild, you know. Only trolls that show sentience are considered people. Do you remember taking the test?" the stranger asked politely, and Karkat had to resist the urge to strangle him.

"NO. I don't, actually. They gave that shit to me when I was what, a sweep and a half old? How in the grubfucking hell does a three year old, to use your terms, show 'sentience' or not show it?" Karkat demanded of the stranger.

"Look man, I didn't set it up. All I know is to stay away from the wild ones. Don't waste your time helping animals, bud. Goodnight." The man excused himself from the conversation with a sneer and walked off quickly.

Karkat was left angry and now entirely alone on the street, except for the troll in front of him.

They were not very close to any streetlights and it had gotten even darker by that point, so it was hard for him to make out any details of the troll. He did notice short black hair, an oversized green jacket, and short horns on her head that rounded to a point and looked vaguely like cat ears from the right angles.

He prodded the body. "Hey…miss? Are you okay?"

No response, but the troll stiffened and moved a little.

"Hello?" he asked again, and this time the troll lifted her head to glare at him.

"Hey, what the fuck is that look for, I'm trying to help you out." He told her irritably, though he extended a hand to help her up.

"Purrobably more like trying to kill me and being sneaky about it…." She muttered under her breath, refusing his hand and trying to stand up by herself. She was injured clearly, but Karkat didn't know how he was supposed to help someone who refused it.

"Hey, listen shitbiscuit. You can't even get up on your own." She glared at him again form her half-up position, on all fours and shaking, and whenever she tried to stand up further, she cringed upon putting weight on one of her legs.

He hesitantly tried to help her up again. She bared her teeth at him and hissed, and he drew his hand back. She continued to struggle to get up and leave for a few moments, and Karkat noticed olive blood on her in the meantime.

He crouched in front of her so he could look her in the eyes and try to talk. Maybe even a bit more gently. Just, fuck, he couldn't keep watching her do this all night. It hurt to see it. "I'm trying to help, you know."

She exhaled loudly and fell down all the way, her arms sprawled out to the side. She blew some hair out of her face in defeat, and looked up at him with those _eyes._ Gog, when she wasn't glaring…..they were big and rounded and she seemed pretty innocent now, olive green and mostly yellow orbs glancing up at him with hurt and confusion. "Fine." She whispered, glancing down. He was glad, because if he had to keep looking at those eyes any longer he might not be able to talk. "Purrhaps you aren't bad…" she mumbled, exhaling again.

"Well no shit." He replied, now that the ability to speak had returned to him.

He thought he heard her stifle some sort of giggle. Or maybe that was just his imagination turning a cough of pain into a laugh. "Heh…you're special then. Thanks fur trying to make me feel better, at least." The corners of her mouth twitched as if to smile, but she didn't. She just looked up at him again.

"Wait, _trying_?" he asked incredulously, and this time she did laugh, for real, though she coughed afterwards and he thought there might be some more blood on the pavement.

"Well, yeah. I'm not worth the time, really…I live in the woods ofur there. I might have been able to get back to my little cave befur, but I got beaten in a fight. So now I wait until I'm better enough to go home on my own. That's how it works." She told him matter-o-factly, as if that were normal.

"You're fucking bleeding all over the streets and you act like it isn't a big deal. You're hurt, gogdammit, and…and you shouldn't have to be living in a cave in the first place!" Karkat expressed his anger over the revelations. This shouldn't happen.

Now she looked really confused. "But…you don't get it….I'm not a purrson. Evfurryone says so. I'm a wild animal and animals live in caves, right? I wasn't sentient when I was little. Furom the start. I'm _supposed_ to live in the woods." Those _eyes_ again! She really didn't understand… she really believed everything she just told him. Her wide-eyed, confused expression said everything for him. She really didn't think she qualified as sentient. She really thought she was supposed to live like that. Why?

"Tell me who the fuck gets to decide that, huh?!" she flinched and drew back as he raised his voice, staring up at him with fear. He kept looking her in the eyes and pushed through it. "Who thinks that they can just, tell someone what they are and aren't, and fucking force others to live like bandits!? It isn't right! It's a fucking retarded thing that some shitwipe decided for everyone without asking a single gogdammed troll what they thought about it! This shouldn't happen! It shouldn't! it shouldn't….this shouldn't happen….Why…..?" he didn't even know why, but, he couldn't keep up his rant. He was trying to look her in the eyes the whole time. He was failing to understand why she was confused and why she was trying to tell him that it was right.

But she was really trying. It hurt. It hurt him to hear what she was saying. "It's all okay.." she said soothingly, trying to pat his back. "I don't know why you're upset ofur that. It's a fact. I'm not a purrson like you are. I was nefur supposed to be." she insisted. " That's what they told me, and I can't argue, not really. If I'm an animal then I think like one…and there aren't any animals that think like people and the purroper trolls. Do you get it? Why are you sad? It isn't your concern and it isn't a purroblem. We've nefur even met befur this." He kept silent.

She purred and nuzzled him like a cat would, trying to lift his head up. She soon did, holding it up gently with one hand and holding his shoulder with the other, bright, optimistic green eyes staring into his angry red ones. "Cheer up. Please. You have somewhere to be. I don't. Go home. I'll get up when I'm better and you can just furget about me. I purromise I will _nefur_ be a purroblem to you again. It's okay." With this said, she purred again and nuzzled closer to his head, rubbing against his shoulder. He ran his fingers through her hair and steeled himself.

This was wrong. This was so _unbelievably wrong!_ And he was going to try and make it right, gogdammit.

He stood up, and the girl watched him do so with a pleasant, although maybe, and he hoped it was, just a bit sad little smile. "Night." She whispered, before returning to her previous task of trying to get up. Before she could stand halfway up, limp a few feet and fall again, like she'd been doing, he stopped her. And he lifted her himself.

She was easily a head shorter than him. "Jegus fuck, you're tiny." Not the smartest thing to say, but she didn't seem to care.

"Oh. Thanks fur helping me up, I guess…." She mumbled, now standing, albeit shakily so.

"Can you walk okay?" he asked as a precaution. There was no way he was just going to let her run off to the woods again, of course, but he did want to make sure she could walk.

"Of course the mighty huntress can walk!" she replied, and stubbornly took a step to prove it, nearly falling over. "But, I might…need to crawl actually. Not beclaws I can't walk, just, that's… how a real huntress walks." She tried to pretend it was okay.

He rolled his eyes and picked her up, wincing himself when she cringed at his touch. He hefted the girl over his shoulder and was startled by how light she was. Underweight.

"…..I don't know your name…" she commented weakly after a moment.

"Karkat. What's yours?" he responded, making his way to his house.

She was silent for a long time. He started to get worried, actually. "Hey, are you awake or did you fall right the fuck asleep on my shoulder?"

She spoke up again. "No, it's not that..…it's just, you asked fur a name, and….I don't have one." She sounded upset about this. "I don't get to have a name."

That. Was not. Fucking. Right.

But he wasn't just going to stick the girl with some shitty, half-assed name he came up with on the spot. And he honestly did not trust himself to name a person. He was at a loss of what to say.

Which was an oddity in itself.

She spoke up again. "But, I really like your name! It has cat in it, even! It's nice to know your name, Karkat!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

Aha. So she liked cats. Wait, shouldn't that have been really, incredibly fucking obvious? In hindsight he should have figured it out when she started fucking purring. Gogdammn, hindsight really _is_ a bitch.

"Yeah, I guess my name is okay." He would have shrugged, but she was currently on his shoulder.

"So…does this mean…that I have to be your pet now? I know that the rule is that I can't complain, but….I don't want to be a dumb pet. Or a smart one. Or a pet at all. But you aren't taking me to the woods….and I really h-hope you aren't taking me to some alley to kill me –" he decided he'd do what he thought was a comforting gesture, and ruffled her hair right between the horns. Kanaya said it sometimes helped with kids she babysat. "Heh, that's …. purr….purrr….purrrrrrrrr….." holy shit that's fucking adorable. That was just supposed to be like a reassuring ruffling of her hair, but, it turned into a scratch right between the horns and holy mother of fuck she was still purring.

"I'm not going to kill you. And you aren't going to be a pet. Do you understand this? It's fucking logic. Really simple. You're hurt. I'm going to find a doctor. And then you can get fixed up."

"Purrrrrr-sorry!-purrrr-feels nice-purrrrrr-reflex!-purrrrrrrrr..." he sheepishly stopped the between-the-horns scratching, and she took a deep, blissful breath.

"S-sorry. That was just…it felt…nobody has _evfur_ done that and it felt _really_ nice. I didn't even mean to purr, but, I did, beclaws that's my reflex fur stuff like that….how do you do that?" she asked breathlessly.

"Umm…" what a master of words right here. No really, that is the fucking best use of words. "…..on accident, really."

She stifled a laugh at his expense. He would have yelled at her, but he didn't really feel like scaring anyone shitless because it was late at night and he was walking in the residence areas, meaning the neighbors would not appreciate it. So he settled for grumbling an insult under his breath.

"What's an asshat?" she asked curiously, and he almost jumped because he could have _sworn_ she wouldn't have heard that. But, her head was close enough to his, he reasoned, facepalming at his own stupidity for not thinking that through.

"An asshat is an insult. It means someone has their head up their ass, basically." He explained, and was surprised when her eyes widened.

"How are they that flexible?"

"Gogdammit…It's an expression, not…literal." he responded after a moment, and she nodded in that way a confused person does when they're acting like they understand.

"You didn't understand jack shit of that explanation, did you?" she shook her head.

"I don't know what either of those words mean." she told him apologetically, and he just rolled his eyes.

"We're here. Let's see if I can get a good look at your injuries before we go to the doctors. Maybe I'll have something to help at my respiteblock." He informed her bluntly, walking up to his door. She tensed on her draped-over-the-shoulder position.

"Nobody else lives here, right?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I live alone." He replied as he opened the door and went through it, flipping on the light switch.

Looking for a suitable place to put her down, he ended up just dumping her on the couch, thinking, '_to hell with it, if she gets blood on the couch at least I'll be able to fucking see it'_.

He flipped on a few more lights, despite usually liking darker settings, he really needed to see this as well as possible, and that meant light had to illuminate all of her so he could see any injuries.

"What in the everliving fuck even happened?" he asked uncertainly as he evaluated the damage.

She was effectively covered in blood, and he noted with a feeling of dread that it was all over his shoulder too, meaning she was still bleeding from somewhere. He noticed a lot of bruises just on the parts of her skin that weren't covered, basically her hands and head, and he realized she might have a broken leg if she couldn't get up.

She looked down as if she was guilty of something, hanging her head. "Sorry…but, maybe it's not as bad as last time?" she tried to sound enthusiastic. He suspected that she was just putting on a brave face, but, honestly? She hadn't lied yet, not that he knew of.

"_Last time_?! How often does this shit happen?!"

"Efurry now and then." She shrugged, then winced at the movement, frowning and taking her jacket off to look at her other injuries herself. "Huh, that's not good."

Karkat's vision followed her line of sight and his gut wrenched at what he was seeing. He was never really a hardass, injuries-are-no-big-deal type of guy like a lot of his friends, no matter how much he liked to act like it.

So it made sense that he felt like he was going to get sick.

He suppressed the urge to shout something increasingly stupid and tried to take it in. Large green bruises flowered all over her arms, he could tell that now even more than before, and there were also cuts and gashes on them, and he noticed a few cuts into her black T-shirt, tears in the fabric revealing more of them as well as occasionally parts of more bruises. Dried blood trailed around her arms, criss-crossing when streams from two cuts or gashes dripped in different directions and trailing off her forearms to stop near the middle, where the ground probably was at the time it dried. There were bits of wood, suspiciously enough, in some of the gashes and cuts. Some of the cuts had reopened and were bleeding again, and she pressed her jacket onto those ones to try and get it to stop.

She growled softly, but it seemed to be more at the injuries and not directed at him.

"Clubs….grrr…..sharp edges…splinters…" she growled, assessing her injuries herself and pulling out the mentioned splinters and chunks of sharp wood. He could only catch bits and pieces of what she was muttering, the rest sounded like, well, he didn't even know what it sounded like. It was enough for him to put more pieces together.

"So, someone attacked you?" he questioned, trying to take his eyes off her wounds and at the same time forcing himself to look at them so that he would know what to use from a first aid kit.

"Two. At furst it was only the one, but then…I…." she bit her lip, hesitating, before crossing her arms and looking down, her face ashen as if with regret or fear, he couldn't tell which. "I broke the rules. It's purrobably my fault." She stared down at the floor.

"Two?! And, and what kind of rule could you possibly have fucking broken in the first place if the one guy attacked you _before_ that?!" Karkat demanded, though he quickly sighed and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to cool off. In this case, he decided, shouting would get him nowhere. She seemed perfectly willing to talk anyways.

"The furst one attacked me fur fun, the other one just watched and didn't say much about it. He just watched fur a while like that until…I broke the rules, I… attacked him back. And then the other one, he …." She whimpered and buried her head in her coat, wrapping her arms around her legs and pulling them up to her head. Now everything she said was muffled, and he was _pretty sure_ that she was legitimately using a series of growls purrs and a few other odd noises to substitute words she didn't know or didn't care to use. "…..broken…sharp wood ….!"

"Okay, listen, I'm sorry for asking, alright? Calm the fuck down, I'm going to get some bandages and I don't want to come back to the equivalent of a hysterical cat on fucking, I don't know, what the fuck would a drug for cats be? Catnip? Whatever, not the fucking point! Stay here, calm down, I'm getting a first aid kit…or, something." She just nodded slowly and went back to checking her wounds.

He hastily grabbed his bathroom's first aid kit (thank gog Kanaya gave him this thing, now that it finally was being used for something he was pretty fucking glad he had it) and rushed back to the front room.

The girl was attempting to lick the injuries, and a feeling in the very pit of his stomach told him she'd probably picked it up from some sort of feral dog or a wolf she'd seen doing it. He vaguely remembered reading something about how the saliva helped stop the bleeding and seal the wounds or some shit? Whatever, he'd wait for her to finish and then use the disinfectant, and all the other stuff in the what he previously thought to be oversized first aid kit. "Are you done?" he checked with her, as he opened it up and pulled out disinfectant.

"Purrobably." She responded bluntly, lowering the arm she was working on.

"Okay, then I'm going to disinfect it. It stings like hell. Please don't rip my arm off or some shit while I use it on you, because it does hurt but it also helps you get better faster, in the long run." He informed her, equally bluntly. He wasn't sugar coating shit, it wasn't 'just going to sting a little', it was going to burn like the fucking flames of hell and he was _more_ than aware of that. He wanted to make sure she was too.

She exhaled loudly but didn't do anything to stop him when he got closer with it. Whether it was because she physically couldn't or because she didn't care or gave him permission, he didn't know.

He took the bottle of medical disinfectant and poured a little onto a washcloth, she had a lot of cuts and he didn't feel like putting it in each individually. He was just going to run this over them a few times and pick out splinters with her. For head injuries, he would do the same, but this time individually. As for the torso wounds, well, he didn't feel comfortable touching her all over that area, he'd probably give the disinfectant to her and let her do it. He was just going to have to hope she didn't have any open leg wounds.

She hissed between her teeth when he put the washcloth over the injuries on one of her arms and he paused briefly to give her an apologetic look before scrubbing relentlessly, which he knew hurt like hell, but he also knew it was best to get this part over with quickly. The hissing and squeaks of protest continued for a few minutes, and the farthest she went was to put her hands on his head once and grip, hard. She immediately took them off when he cringed and felt a drop of his candy red blood slide down the side of his head, likely because she had claws and they were sharp as the edge of a razor. After that, she took to gnawing on her jacket sleeve so that she could clench her jaw on something and keeping tightly clenched fists at her sides. He noted with a twinge of guilt that she was clenching her fists tightly enough that she was cutting into her own palms enough to draw more blood and debated letting her just grip his head again, however, he was almost done and it wouldn't matter much by then. He finished shortly after that and told her he was done. She let out a breath she'd been holding and slowly unfurled her fists. He decided he wouldn't clean out her palms because clearly it was agonizing for her.

"I'm sorry, but, I did warn you that it would burn like hell." She didn't respond to this but nodded and glanced at her palms, noting her self-injury with apparent frustration.

"And now for bandages." Karkat pulled those out of the first aid kit, as well as some Neosporin, and, upon seeing the wary look Nepeta gave them, he reassured her. Not something he usually did, but still. "Don't worry, these don't hurt. I told the truth the last time, didn't I? If I didn't lie about that one hurting, why would I lie about this one hurting?"

She was still eyeing the Neosporin suspiciously. He sighed. "Look, if you don't fucking believe me, use your knife-claws and let me test it first. Scratch my arm or some shit, I don't really give a rat's ass."

Now she had taken her focus off the Neosporin and was looking at him curiously. "….You _want_ me to?"

"Sure, whatever the fuck gets you to believe me. This shit doesn't sting, and the bandages don't either. It'll help your cuts get better a little faster and prevent scars the size of Florida, so I mean, if it gets you to believe me then yeah, go fucking nuts. Here." He stuck an arm out within her easy reach, using the other to fiddle with the Neosporin while he waited. "Well?" he asked, when he did not feel anything digging into his arm like he'd expected.

"….I believe you, I guess." She relented, almost sheepishly. She tried to slide off the couch, cringing when she fell off instead. Either way she pulled herself into a sitting position next to Karkat.

He just shrugged at this and opened the Neosporin, applying it by hand since he'd washed them and didn't feel like getting other shit out. She cringed the first few times he neared cuts but relaxed when she noted that, just like he'd said, it failed to sting or hurt. He was being pretty careful anyways.

Once he was done with that, he picked up the bandages, the long kind used to wrap injuries and keep them covered and in place and all that.

He wrapped both her arms, then handed her another roll of it, as well as some more Neosporin and the disinfectant, which she hissed at the sight of, and told her she would have to take care of any injuries that he hadn't covered. When she asked him why, he just replied with, "Well, you can do shit on your own right? Besides, some parts need to stay private, and I need to look for a doctor or basically anyone who is actually fucking qualified to help out with this. I showed you how to do it, see if you can find all the shit that I missed. You'll probably do better than I did."

"Okay!" She chirruped, and he left the room just before she began to search for other wounds –not that she had to search, after all they were _on her_, she probably knew exactly where they were based on which areas hurt like all hell and which ones hurt slightly less than that.

All in all he really was amazed she'd managed to put up with that extended period of cleaning out wounds, because last time that was done to _him_ he fucking cussed and screeched and clawed at Kanaya like a fucking devilbeast, and he hadn't had nearly as many injuries.

He researched doctors and found some close enough to help, but they were closed so he figured he would just look for one in the morning. "Are you done yet?" He called to the girl bringing up to the forefront of his mind the fact that she remained without a name. He had to fix that somehow, but it would have to wait, as much as he hated the thought of putting it off.

"Yep!" She responded, and he walked back into the room. He immediately turned around.

"What's wrong?" she queried innocently.

Gogdammit why did that just happen?

"Put your fucking shirt on. _Please_." He shouldn't have taken her word for it, he should have made it fucking clear what he meant by 'done'. Whatever the case, he heard rustling in the other room.

"Uh…okay then, it's on." She sounded confused but he waited a minute for his face to calm the fuck down and stop burning scarlet before walking back in the room.

"Great." He breathed out, and she handed him the disinfectant and Neosporin. He put it away.

"Soo…..I can't get to my cave…..and…" She began awkwardly, trailing off every now and then. He waved it off.

"What'd you sleep on anyways?" He asked, though he already knew he would despise society just a little bit more for whatever answer it might be.

"The furs I collected from prey." of fucking course.

"There's this great invention called a bed, and, I think it'd be a fucking great idea for you to get some sleep on that. I'll crash on the couch that looks like someone committed murder on it." He informed her, heading off to his room and returning with two blankets and a pillow for himself. She scrunched her face up in confusion.

He fucking hated society so much right now. But whatever, he was setting up the couch to be a bed and she was still looking at him funny. "Hmmm….I can sleep here."

He grumbled something under his breath but didn't bother arguing. It was her preferences anyways.

He would still sleep on the couch though, if only to keep an eye on her. "Goodnight, I guess."

"Huh? Umm…goodnight?" she repeated uncertainly, though she saw him get prepared to sleep and caught on. She nodded and curled into a little ball next to the couch. On the floor. Without a blanket….

Karkat huffed and stood up from the couch, pulling off one of the blankets he'd brought and tossing her the pillow. "Here." He tossed it to her and she looked at it for a second before grinning. "Thanks!" She repeated her act of curling into a ball, this time with the blanket around her and the pillow between her arms. He went back to the couch and tried to sleep.

He stayed up longer than he would have liked to, just thinking. He was already an insomniac, but this time he really had some hardcore reflection to do.

How was _she_ the one who wasn't considered a person? Neither of them were 'humans' in the first place, but he was socially accepted as a person, considered to be normal in every way, whereas she, for some reason that continued to elude him…._wasn't._

He tried to stop thinking about it and get to sleep, but it took him a long time to do this. When he eventually dozed off, he was aware he'd stayed up half the night. It wasn't his fault, per say per say, trolls were naturally nocturnal, however, they stayed up in the day like the humans so that they could use the same society and facilities that they did. Most had adjusted but Karkat was antisocial enough to not have done that.

Either way, he felt comfortable enough and eventually comforted enough to get some sleep, lulled into it by the sound of steady breathing from two people.

**AN: So, this is chapter one, and if you've noticed I messed around with the title, which I did warn you about last chapter. I might mess with it again a few times, so sorry in advance. this chapter was particularly interesting to write for me, I hope that if you're reading it you found it to be so as well. this story might have some Nepkat - it probably will the way it's been going - but I do have plans for the 'Meowrails' as well. that comes in a bit later, which is why Equius isn't under the main character thing. thanks for reading! **


	3. Chapter 2

She woke up in the same house she had gone to sleep in. It was a weird thing to wake up to, she decided, but kept in mind that her options the night before were few.

She slowly pushed the blanket off herself and looked up curiously to see if Karkat was still around.

She spotted him on the couch and started to crawl over, shifting frequently to put as little weight as possible on her left leg. It was sore and ached in that way that let her know it was broken, but she'd managed with a broken leg before so this would be the same.

Peeking up over the side of the couch, she noted that he was still sleeping, as well as that he was alive and not a figment of imagination, and deftly climbed up onto the couch to sit on his legs. She would just wait there, she decided.

He didn't wake up for a few minutes, but he was a bit startled when the first thing he saw was her sitting on him. She got off, but still tried not to put weight on that left leg when she did.

"Well, good morning to you too…" he muttered dryly, wiping sleep out of his eyes. "The fuck was that about?"

"Just making sure you were alive." She shrugged, and he gave her the weirdest look, but dropped the issue.

"Do you feel any better?" He asked, changing the subject.

"A little." She replied, debating whether or not she would be allowed to get on the couch with him and propping her head up on it right in front of his face.

He quickly sat up and scooted to the side, making the room she needed to get on. She sat on it and promptly laid down on him as well, placing her head in his lap. "What the-"

Her stomach growled and interrupted him. She said nothing, but sighed and screwed her eyes shut tight. She had a feeling that was supposed to be embarrassing, and quite frankly, well…she wanted to make a good impression on her new (and only) friend.

She'd decided that people weren't worth it, but after him? She wasn't too sure.

"Oh." She watched him let his shoulders relax and he stopped saying whatever he was about to say. He pulled the arm she'd covered up out from under her and let it rest on her head. She noted with a strange, bubbly feeling that it was right on that spot from last night, as if he'd taken the time to remember where it was. She eagerly anticipated another hair-ruffling scratch like the night before, and wasn't disappointed when Karkat eventually gave in to temptation and did just that.

She purred, though he quickly stopped. She looked up at him curiously to see that he was glancing towards the hall. "You know, since I'm assuming you haven't eaten jack shit in the past few days, and you sounded hungry, I've got a half-eaten box of chicken nugget rip-offs in the fridge, so if you wanted you could have that before we go look for a doctor...or I could fix breakfast for you, I guess."

She sat up straight. "You would?"

"Sure. C'mon, I'll fix up whatever the fuck it is you feel like eating if I can." He stood up from the couch and offered a hand to help her up, however she was already standing up and balancing on one leg. She noticed him eying the one she was holding up and explained that she thought it was broken.

He nodded and walked over to the kitchen with her limping along behind him.

He pulled out the mentioned box of chicken dinosaurs and handed it to her. She reached in and ate a few while he rummaged around in the fridge for some other food, eventually giving up and pulling out milk, to go with a box of cereal.

"So," He said, abruptly breaking the silence as she continued to chew on the chicken-dinosaurs from the box, "You mentioned last night not having a name?"

"Mhm! At one point I thought it was Lass, but it wasn't, appurrantly, that's just how you refur to people who're girls." She responded with a shrug and a 'what can you do?' gesture.

"…So, do you feel like fixing that? I mean, there's no way in hell I trust myself to name you, but I've got a computer so I guess you can sort of just look up names, or whatever." He headed into another room and returned with the metal object she knew to be a husktop from watching people use them at the park.

He opened it and she looked at the keyboard curiously, before looking away with a feeling of dread and a face flushed olive. "I can't read…" She mumbled sheepishly. All of those little characters were familiar but she had no clue what they meant.

Karkat sighed and turned the husktop around again. "I guess I should've figured as much….but you can tell me what you think of stuff I list off, right? Or, actually wow I feel pretty fucking stupid for not asking earlier whether or not you had like, a favorite name or one that you want or any of that. Do you?"

She put the box of food down on the counter and raised a hand to her chin, in thought.

What qualified as a name, exactly? Most names she heard weren't actually things, but then again, she had no idea how many names there were…in the end she just decided to go with the name of her favorite thing, trusting Karkat to correct her.

"Catnip. Purrty sure it's not a name, but-" He cut her off and she was glad he at least cared enough to correct her like she'd hoped he would if she didn't pick a good name.

"Yeah, that's not a fucking name. You'd be teased, believe me. But.." He typed something into the computer quickly, "I guess you could use it in a different way…Nepeta is part of the scientific name for it, that sound okay to you?" he asked, turning around to face her seriously. "Keep in mind that if you absolutely fucking hate it you can tell me, and we can keep looking. I seriously don't want to do the whole naming thing for you, it's completely up to you."

She thought about it. "Okay!"

"So, you're fine with that?" he double checked with her.

"Yep. If I have a name I want it to be that." She smiled at the idea of being referred to by a name for once.

"Alright then. Now we could formally introduce ourselves, if I felt like it, but, I really don't, so….yeah, I guess your name is Nepeta. As for last names…..uh….you like cats, right?" Karkat asked, and she nodded vigorously.

"Yeah! Pounce was a cat! I liked to say she was a lion."

"I have absolutely no idea who the fuck Pounce is but I'm sure you were being literal with that, in which case, no comment. You like lions? I'm pretty sure there was this other family around here, their last name sounds like lion. Almost. Sort of. It sounds like some sort of foreign language bullshit that means lion, and you might be related judging by horns and blood color, so yeah, I guess if you're cool with it then your last name can be Leijon. Do you like it, or not, or, you know, give half a shit in the first place?" Karkat asked another question as he continued to type into the computer and looked up over to her every now and then.

"I love it! Nepeta Leijon. I've got a name! I purromise I won't furget it, Karkat!" She grinned toothily and gave him a salute, which she'd seen some guys in the woods do to a person who shouted a lot like she could tell Karkat did.

He snorted. "I would hope not. And no need for a salute, that's more of something you do for somebody more important than I am, like a military general, or a threshcutioner or a subjugglator-"

"I think you're furry important, Karkat." She informed him seriously, hopping onto the counter to sit on it. "I mean, you're the most important purrson _I've_ efur met. And the nicest, too."

"You need to meet some new people then," he scoffed at the idea, "I'm pretty much a huge asshole in everyone's opinion. Including mine."

"Aww, that's not furry nice. I think you're great!" She purred, taking in the sight of him and wondering why people would call him that.

He had the yellow eyes that all trolls have, but his irises were candy red, and she thought the color was nice. His hair was a constant mess, though it still looked like a type of style was attempted on it. His horns were nubby and she found it to be cute. He frowned a lot, and she felt an urge to try and fix that by any means possible.

"I guess you're an exception, then." He shrugged, and finally seemed to have found what he was looking for on the computer. "Fucking finally. I found one that isn't practically across the ocean…" He grumbled, and wrote down an address.

"Alright Nepeta, are you up for a doctor's appointment?" He asked, standing up from his seat at the table with the husktop.

"I don't think I know what that is, but sure!" She agreed cheerfully, hopping off the counter. She had a pretty good idea, she'd heard people talking about doctors and mentioning sick and injured people going to them, as well as going to them for shots.

She mostly heard people complaining about it, or worrying for people going to the doctor, so she wasn't sure what to expect.

"Great. So it's about three miles awa- oh shit. Your leg is broken, how the fuck are you going to walk over there with me? How the fuck do I forget something like that?" he facepalmed repeatedly. "Gog, I'm so fucking stupid. Maybe I can call someone…." He muttered, trudging over to a phone and hastily punching in a number.

"….yeah, hi. What do you mean 'what is it this time'? Maybe I just wanted to- no, you're right, something came up, actually. Yes there is a problem. Can you come over? Yes, now, I know it's short notice but it's a pretty fucking important situation. What is it? Yeah, I think that might need to be explained in person. Great, I'll see you in a few minutes." He hung up with whoever was on the phone, and exhaled loudly.

"So, my friend and or mother figure will be here in a few minutes. Kanaya's pretty cool, but she has this thing for good manners, so just, try and use them, alright? I mean, she'll probably want to adopt you or some shit no matter what you do because she just likes people she can be all motherly towards, but, that's beside the point. She'll like you, I'm sure." He explained quickly, motioning to the phone when he mentioned Kanaya to say that's who he was on the phone with.

Nepeta(She loved having a name now!) nodded, before glancing at her hand uncertainly. That big scar was still there, a reminder not to get too excited about meeting people and a reminder that most people weren't really interested in having a conversation with her in the first place.

"…Are you pawsitive she'll like me?" Karkat looked up at this question, and she motioned to the blaring reminder.

He walked over to her and nodded confidently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me. She will be all over this metaphorical shit."

"Thanks!" She hugged him and he had his arms lifted awkwardly for a moment before returning her hug and then quickly brushing it off and turning around to head into another room.

"Don't mention it, now let's go wait in the front room for her, I should probably explain why the couch looks like someone performed an operation on top of it when she gets here." She followed him into the front room, limping like she'd been getting used to doing.

In the back of her mind she wondered what was going on.

Was she going to be his pet, or something? Was she just checking in and heading to the 'doctor' before heading back home and…

Nepeta was confused, but, she didn't want to think about leaving. She could follow the train of thought all the way up until there, because, for some reason unknown to her, it made her sad to think about leaving and not seeing her friend anymore.

Was this normal? Was this why such a thing as pets existed? Because they felt so loyal to someone, a certain person, that they would give up all their freedom just to be near them?

Had she already been domesticated? Is that what was happening here?

Or…was he just being nice?

Just three days ago, she was in the woods and as carefree and sure of herself as ever. What had changed so radically over the course of the two days?

She mulled over everything it might've been, until Karkat shook her shoulder, shaking her out of her reverie. "Hmm?"

"A penny for your thoughts, there?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What fur my thoughts? A penny? I don't have any." Nepeta replied with a shrug after digging around in the pocket on her jacket. "I've got a few mice though, if you want those." She pulled out the mentioned dead rodent, holding it by the tail.

"No. And, a 'penny for your thoughts' is an expression. It means I wanted to know what the hell you were thinking about because you were just staring off into space for about ten whole minutes." He responded, refusing her offer before providing clarity on what he'd meant.

"Oh." She tucked the mouse back into her pocket, "I was wondering, what exactly I'm s'posed to do. Do I-" before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.

Karkat stood up to go get it, and when he opened the door a tall troll that Nepeta assumed was Kanaya walked in.

"What's the problem, Karkat? It sounded urgent-" Kanaya blinked and stopped talking after seeing Nepeta, then quickly turned to face Karkat. "Why is there a girl in your house? Karkat Vantas did you get a girlf-"

"We aren't in a relationship, jegus fuck, Kanaya! Give me half a fucking second to tell you what's going on." Karkat interrupted, and Kanaya sighed.

"Before _anything,_ though, why don't you introduce yourselves and all that shit, since this kind of involves everybody. Nepeta, Kanaya. Kanaya, Nepeta. Congratulations, you've been introduced." Karkat hastily introduced them, pointing to both girls respectively.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Nepeta." Kanaya smiled before glancing at her jacket, "Though I must question your fashion sense. Mind taking off the jacket? It's hot in here anyways."

Nepeta slipped the jacket off, which revealed the injuries and bandages, and was immediately hug-tackled by Kanaya. "Oh you poor dear, why are you hurt? What happened? Are you alright? Karkat is she alright?"

"Calm down, jegus! You're probably going to end up hurting her if you keep up you keep squeezing her like that anyways…" Karkat grumbled, and Kanaya released Nepeta sheepishly.

"My apologies, it's just maternal instinct. I suppose a handshake would be wiser." Kanaya extended a hand and looked at Nepeta expectantly.

Nepeta was a little dazed at the sudden hug and release of said hug, but was still nervous about shaking hands with her. She slowly held out her right hand.

Kanaya noticed the scar, unfortunately for Nepeta, and peered at it curiously.

Nepeta kept her mouth shut in the meantime, but was startled when Kanaya just smiled again. "I suppose you've had it tougher than I thought. Well, you guys might want to explain now, right? If it's a long story, I can wait." The three of them settled onto the couch, though Kanaya looked at the blood stains nervously.

Kanaya sat in the middle and Nepeta happily invaded her personal space, though Kanaya seemed to care less than Karkat did about that kind of thing.

"Well, I was walking home," Karkat started, "And, Nepeta over here," Nepeta grinned at the mention of her name, "was sort of just face-down on the sidewalk. I thought she was dead, but, turns out she wasn't, which is great I guess. I'm not really sure how the fuck she got there, though. What I know so far is that some douchebags attacked her and she came from the woods, but how that happened is as mysterious as Egderp's aversion to cake. You want to explain?" he motioned over to her, and from her position of curling into Kanaya's side like a cat, she nodded.

"I was at my cave, and, some people found it. The furst one had clubs, and the second had diffurent weapons, but they were broken and sharp, and he didn't attack right away. I ran and they chased, so fur a while there I guess I was their purrey. They caught me by the city, and I scratched at them like I'm not s'posed to, and the other troll started to hit me with the sharp things, and I bit him and knocked him over, befur I got hurt bad enough to just fall asleep or whatefur it's called right there on the sidewalk. Then Karkat woke me up .He helped me up and fixed my wounds and named me and efurrything!" She purred affectionately and nuzzled Kanaya because she wasn't next to Karkat and she wanted to do it to _someone._

"You picked your own name out, alright? I just suggested something." He grumbled, facing the side before turning to face Kanaya. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could help me get her to the doctor; we were going to walk but then I remembered that her leg is pretty much fucking broken, so…" He trailed off and Kanaya nodded before standing up and motioning to the door.

"I can help. Which doctor did you mean? I think I know how we might get there." She informed them curtly.

"Oh gog, don't tell me…"

"Rose's mother can drive us."

"Kanaya, the woman is drunk off her ass at all hours of the day and night. There's no way I'm getting in a moving vehicle with that woman at the driver's seat, unless I've got a death wish." Karkat shook his head vehemently. "No way."

**(Later, in Roxy's car)**

Nepeta gripped the seat tightly, digging her claws into it and screwing her eyes shut tight. It was moving, swinging back and forth and she didn't like it _at all_.

"Why the fuck did I agree to this?" Karkat was in a similar state of fear as Nepeta. "Rose, your mother is a madwoman. How fucking drunk is she anyways?"

"She had two bottles of whiskey before deciding it would be a _wonderful_ idea to drive a car containing four children. And I believe she's working on a glass of wine, though how she keeps it in the glass with all the infernal swerving of hers is a mystery to me. I would guess her blood alcohol content to be far past the legal limit, possibly around 0.15. To answer your question simply, she is _very _drunk." Rose replied curtly, before turning to face Kanaya again and somehow having a rational, calm and collected conversation with her girlfriend.

Nepeta just gripped the seat more tightly as the car swerved again, tossing Karkat, who was in the seat beside her in the very back of the car, into her. His horn was particularly uncomfortable in her gut, especially considering the current damage, but she didn't say anything and waited for the situation to finish, awkwardly fidgeting while the car finally started slowing down and swerving less.

"Owwww…..shit, sorry…" he grumbled, lifting his head and glancing out the window. She wasn't sure what he looked at that could tell him, but he then informed her that they were almost there.

A few minutes later the car completely stopped and the group finally got out.

As if by magic Rose's mother proceeded to sober up, if only just a little, perhaps because she knew they were about to enter a building where the health code was actually followed and she might get arrested for doing stupid things while drunk. Even so, she ultimately waited outside for the kids to come back out.

Kanaya ended up helping Nepeta to the door, while Karkat argued with the guy at the desk about how he'd made an appointment that morning. Eventually it got sorted out and they were just sitting in the waiting room.

Kanaya and Rose proceeded to have a discussion about something or other that Nepeta paid no attention to, and Karkat just stared off into space. She decided she'd just look around the waiting room.

Eventually there was a call for their group, or rather, a call for her appointment. Only two people were supposed to go, so it was a no brainer that Karkat went with her, as Rose and Kanaya were busy conversing already anyways.

They walked into a white room that she found to be just the tiniest bit familiar. The doctor went by Doc Scratch, and he was in the room already. "Good afternoon. You made an appointment to have your friend looked over? That's quite sweet of you. If you would, please remind me of both of your names."

"I'm Karkat, and she's Nepeta, and we came to get doctoring or whatever the hell it's called, not pleasant greetings."

"Well, aren't you an agreeable one?" Doc Scratch replied dryly, but stood up from his chair and headed over to Nepeta. "I certainly hope your attitude is better than his…"

He scrutinized her for a moment before something seemed to click for him. "You seem familiar. If I may…." He carefully took her right hand as she glanced nervously around the room and met eyes with Karkat a few times. "Aha. So you were _that_ one. I must say I'm surprised you got someone to take you in. Rumor has it your keeper killed some people." Scratch raised an eyebrow as she tensed.

"Pounce didn't kill _anyone._" The hairs on the back of her neck bristled as he dropped her hand and reached for her head.

"The lion you refer to killed some people on it's way out the zoo, and others went missing in the woods, perhaps that was you instead? And either way…I do recall society washing it's hands of you." He said simply, hesitating with his hand over her head before deciding to put it back at his side calmly, and walk to the other side of the room.

"Hold the fuck up, what's going on here?! How do you know Nepeta specifically?" Karkat interjected, and Nepeta shrugged, whereas Doc Scratch simply chuckled lightly.

"I should know, I assigned her to it. If I do remember correctly, she had a sweet spot…right…here." He walked back over to Nepeta and she tried to bat his hand away, but he eventually got it to that spot on her head. She resisted the temptation to make any noise.

He scratched a bit harder. She bit her lip. Karkat watched intently.

"Hrk! Nnngh….." she continued to bite her lip and continued to resist the temptation.

It proved to be useless and she caved a few moments later. She ducked out from under his hand as soon as she'd started purring and figured she might get away with it. He only laughed, and she sighed.

"You'd best be going to see a vet, if you really think it needs medical attention."

"Are you fucking serious?!" Karkat exclaimed incredulously, pulling Nepeta to the side. "I think Nepeta can go to a normal doctor considering the fact that, oh, I don't know, she has the exact same anatomy as any other female troll and it isn't really worth a rat's ass to mention jack shit about anything else that _YOU_ might think because you're an overconfident, nooksniffing asswipe who wants to make decisions that aren't yours to make."

"It _was_ my decision to make. And really, you think naming it is a good idea?"

"_Her_." Karkat corrected, glaring daggers at the doctor. They entered a staring contest at this point, Doc Scratch looking calmly ahead and Karkat pouring every ounce of hatred in his being into his glare.

Nepeta watched in the background and shifted uneasily on her feet.

"You really think that'll make a difference? Correcting me?"

"It'll make a bigger difference than nothing you self-obsessed garbage!"

"I'd be insulted but I'm simply too busy pitying you. And not the romantic kind, mind you. You see, even if you win this little debate here, it's already ended with the scale tipped in my favor."

"Bullshit!"

Nepeta decided to choose now to tug on Karkat's sweatshirt's sleeve. "We could just go to the other place. I don't really mind."

"He's being disrespectful and an ass, I thought doctors were supposed to help people!" he replied, glancing back at her before glaring at Doc Scratch again with renewed vigor.

"Exactly. We help _people_." Doc retorted and immediately turned to face Nepeta.

She tried to shrink back towards the other half of the room, not wanting to be involved in the conversation, but it seemed it was too late.

"You. Are you a person? Tell me what you think, but be warned, I want an honest opinion." The doctor asked, almost curiously but mostly with that same air of thinly veiled confidence and superiority.

She didn't really appreciate two sets of eyes on her, although it was nice to see Karkat stop glaring at the doctor, she guessed.

'_Am I? is it a matter of opinion? Uh…'_ She wasn't sure what she should be thinking at the moment. The doctor still seemed confident and she thought back to the old man at the park and the campers and even a few bits of conversation she'd overheard talking about the issue.

She also kept in mind the words, '_What you think'__,_ which meant it depended on her opinion, which it really never had before. How did she answer a question with no right answer?

"uhh…..ummm…..i…..uh…." She kept her eyes riveted to the floor. "Uhh…..err…I dunno….um…."

'_Maybe?'_ She thought to herself, but at this point was too confused and perplexed with the question itself to give any clear answer.

**(POV shift)**

Karkat's eyes widened in mild surprise, looking over Nepeta again. She seemed to have gotten confused, and was just sort of staring at the floor. She didn't give an answer, just confused mumbles and a flurry of uhh and ummm and every other space-filler in existence. It was almost worse than Tavros.

He didn't like this.

This doctor made him angry.

This building made him angry.

Angry did not cover either of those things. 'Angry' is what someone might be if someone spilled a drink on them, if someone's dog took a shit in their yard and then didn't clean it up.

No, angry didn't cover it. He knew he had anger issues and even a disorder pertaining to them but this should qualify as a time he was allowed to show just how pissed he was. He was not feeling anger, he was feeling hate.

What was there to do?

' …_maybe….' _Karkat reached for the needle case he saw on the desk, hand twitching tentatively as he left it hovering over it.

The without a second thought he picked it up, grabbed it, and chucked it across the room at the doctor.

To his immense displeasure, that asshole actually caught it.

"To throw things over a petty argument such as this. Tsk, tsk, Karkat." He clicked his tongue and set down the case of shots and needles on the desk beside himself.

"Petty my ass, that was a dick move on every level, you nooksniffing-"

"I suggest you watch your language, please. There might be young patients in here, you know. All you have to do is give me _one_ more reason to kick you out and I can get you arrested. And of course, your friend over there…would face different consequences." Doc Scratch said calmly, sitting down and folding his arms, still very confident.

Karkat felt something sharp pierce his arm in multiple places, and looked over to see Nepeta clinging to it. Ah, the claws. He'd almost forgotten how sharp they were, but at least he didn't swear. He couldn't afford to be reckless with behavior now, while he was standing in a perpetual glass house.

He was determined to get her leg looked at in the very least, but at this point that might become impossible. He wasn't an exactly a stellar negotiator.

"Is that a threat?" He asked suspiciously, debating whether or not it was worth it. He could find another doctor, or something…maybe. It depended entirely upon how stubborn he was going to be and what exactly the 'consequence' was.

"It's a fact." Nepeta's claw-nails or whatever they actually were dug in a bit more and he was pretty sure blood was being drawn now and that there would be holes in his sweatshirt, but rather than shout or anything – damn glass house – he just tried to keep his mind on what Doc Scratch was saying.

"Who's to say what would happen to her if animal control were to show up? Certainly, if any other dangerous creature were let loose in a building full of sickly people, they would not be allowed to be set free after such a disturbance. And yet, there is no necessity for her anywhere else, which leaves those in charge of her with only one option…"

"Karkat? Purrhaps, we should leave befur…." Nepeta trailed off, and Karkat turned to look as the door swung open and Kanaya stepped in cautiously.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything, but it seems that you have been in here for a while and there had been shouting on Karkat's end. For the sake of all involved I recommend you cancel the appointment." Kanaya exchanged looks with Karkat and the two had a soundless mini-argument before Kanaya eventually pulled him out of the room, Nepeta following.

"Karkat," Kanaya started, prepared to tell him off, "You didn't take your medications today, did you?" she accused, and he shrugged.

"I had them last night and I figured they'd last through the morning, but it really doesn't matter because even if I was on my anger management whatever the fuck miracle pills, I would still know that that guy is a worthless piece of shit who probably shouldn't have even been qualified to work as a doctor because of how much of a raving asshole-douchebag fucking dickpickle he is, how is he qualified to work with people I want to stab him through his gander bulb-sockets I hope he goes blind and trips into a well full of venomous snakes because he is an asshole and the biggest one I've ever had the displeasure of laying my eyes on, I almost want to rip out my hear ducts so that I don't have to listen to his bullshit I swear to gog I'm gonna-" He was out of the glass house and he had more than a few choice words. One second longer and he might've exploded in there though.

"Karkat. Calm down. Do your breathing exercise." Kanaya said soothingly, trying to pacify him.

"Fuck the breathing exercise, how about I 'exercise' my ability to shove sword up the doctor's ass instead, because that sounds like the best thing I could possibly be doing right now! In fact, he had some needles in there that might work do you think that would work because – " Karkat was about to raise his arms and make a gesture, when he stopped mid-sentence. "Oww, shit I forgot about that! Nep, do you mind getting your knife-claws out of my arm because that kind of hurts like hell, in case you were wondering."

She sheepishly pulled them out and glanced at the blood on them. "Sorry…" She wiped it off on the inside of her jacket and he held his arm where it'd been penetrated.

"Damn…we never got your leg looked at." He said bluntly, as if he'd just realized that.

"I'm sure the bandage that's on it will help. For now I think we should just leave the building, we can worry about this later." Kanaya pulled him towards the door and he resisted.

"I still want to kick the doctor's ass, at least give me a second to do that!"

"No. Now get out here."

The group walked outside of the doctor's clinic, and Rose's mother stood up from the bench outside the building. "You get catgirl's leg looked at?" She asked curiously, slurring the words only slightly.

"He refused service." Rose informed her, and her mother frowned.

"Thass…thass messed up. I guess we're gonna go back to K-karkrat – Karshat - _Karkat's_ place and drop them off now?" The kids just piled into the car. Rose shook her head and grumbled about her mother's drinking habits.

Karkat sighed and prepared for the terrifying roller-coaster car ride that was bound to happen yet again. They got to his house in one piece, amazingly enough.

**AN: Hey so this chapter is here I guess. my headcannon is that Karkat's anger issues get progressively worse when he's off medication and Kanaya has to remind him a lot. it's not an uncommon headcannon, so I guess it's just in there. I threw in Roxy, because I couldn't resist. this story is going to have plenty of comic relief the way I'm planning it. thanks for reading!**


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